Layla Miller is the real reason that the alternate reality in House of M is fixed, but that’s not the only X-Men story she had a role in telling.
Layla Miller is not the most well-known character from the X-Men universe, but she did play a pivotal role in Marvel’s huge superhero crossover, House of M. With the powers of precognition and memory restoration, she is the catalyst by which Magneto’s tyrannical reign over humans and mutants is put to an end.
This core eight-issue series of the 2005 House of M is by Brian Michael Bendis, Olivier Coipel, Tim Townsend, and Frank D’Armata, and House of M #4 gives us our first introduction to Layla Miller and sets the stage for all the adventures she has after.
After the Scarlet Witch alters reality, Layla awakens to find that she is aware the world has changed. Layla’s unique telepathic abilities make her impervious to the new reality and also allow her to reawaken the lost memories in others as well. This ability is an integral part of bringing down Magento’s House of M. Without her, the heroes would never have fought back to restore their reality, which had been rewritten by the Scarlet Witch. In the end, they succeed in defeating Magneto, but restoring their world comes at the cost of millions of mutants’ powers.
After the events of House of M, Layla joins the mutant led detective agency called X-Factor Investigations, led by Jamie Madrox’s Multiple Man and featuring other X-Factor veterans like Strong Guy and Wolfsbane. Layla now has precognitive abilities and claims she “knows stuff,” but her precognition powers are not always perfect. She suffers from blind spots and gaps in her future knowledge. During her time with X-Factor Investigations, she helps save the lives of her fellow teammates, foils nefarious plans, and even stops a mutant genocide planned by the telepath Joseph Huber, also known as the Isolationist.
Layla ends up trapped in the future during the events of X-Men: Messiah Complex. When a mutant messiah is born, Jamie sends duplicates of himself into alternate realities to collect data on all the possible futures. Layla goes with a duplicate without Jamie’s blessing, which strands her in that alternate future. Unfortunately for her, the future she travels to has mutants enslaved in internment camps. While Layla is trapped in this dystopian future, she helps the mutants to the best of her ability. She also utilizes her true mutant power, the power of reanimation, which she uses to resurrect Trevor Fitzroy, turning him into a soulless killer in the process.